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it all right we're all ready to go it's 7:30 this is being recorded so good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the April 8th 2025 meeting conservation commission uh commission members are appointed by the select board to uh implement the rules and regulations of the state wetlands
protection act as well as the Milton town bylaw governing the wetlands as a matter of formality we ask anyone and everyone to participate ask questions make comments uh but for public meeting open meeting requirements we do ask that you identify yourself second matter of
formality we always introduce ourselves my name is John Kieran and just let me read across the top of my row uh Steve can you go uh Steve Ibis conservation agent wendy good evening i'm Wendy Garpo charlie
Charles Bosworth arthur Arthur Doyle commission member Philip Philip Gristo Ingred Ingred Batty Commission Member and Tom Palmer Tom Palmer commission
member right and I I did receive notification that Hans would not be able to attend tonight so we've got our quorum we're ready to go uh first on the agenda is an executive session uh which is actually not going to take place we can skip that um the reference there is
to a discussion on Wells versus Milton Conservation Commission uh and I can report that that case has been settled the case has been dismissed in Norfolk Superior Court and all is well that ends well and that's sort of the flip side there was another case pending in
Norfolk um and that was u the Bicardi estate or Mrs batti i guess I I didn't mean the reporter is being deceased but uh the Mrs bardi versus the planning board that's been resolved as well you can confirm that
Ned is that correct yes both uh cases were dismissed a day apart the Bicardi case was settled and dismissed and the following day we received notice that the the action involving the con the conservation commission was dismissed as well perfect all right so we don't need
all appeals all appeals are now uh dismissed perfect all right good news all right thanks all uh next on the agenda is number two Milton Neponosit estuary surveying project by Apex Environmental Partners and that's an
update arthur do you want to introduce that i'd be happy to we have with us Jamie Vallet uh who's uh representing Apex um environmental partners and um Jamie's prepared to uh present an
update i think everybody remembers that she was on us on uh agendas three or so weeks ago and uh Jamie has a couple of um slides that she can um or screenshots that she can prep uh show us that she's
prepared for tonight's evening so Jamie welcome thanks Arthur can everyone uh hear and see the screen that I'm sharing yes we can yes thank you so again my name is Jamie Vallette um with Apex i uh am a
consulting engineer spearheading the Neponet River estuary study um so tonight I'm just going to be giving a brief uh update on the project status um going over a recap of the work completed
completed to date since we've last uh since I last presented in front of the concom back in February as well as just going over the initial draft concept plans and some of the key takeaways that um that were
received from the visioning workshop that we just recently held with the town and key stakeholders so um as I mentioned we were I was last in front of the conservation commission in February and since then um the
beginning of March we drafted the initial concept plan and hosted a visioning workshop with town representatives as well as key stakeholders from the city of Quincy and the Neponet River Wershed Association
and um the beginning of this week we've been coordinating for upcoming fieldwork which is scheduled on Thursday so with that just a brief overview again of the study area it's
four um parcels abuing the Neponet River um the green represents the green the blue and the yellow parcels represent the town owned parcels and the orange boundary represents the privatelyowned
parcel uh at Black Rockck which is owned by Blue Cross Blue Cross Blue Shield so as I mentioned this week uh we plan on installing wood stakings on Thursday in the green um the green dots
represent the proposed staking locations and the red dots represent the existing bounds or monuments that were located during the field survey completed back in January
and then the red dots with the yellow highlights will be also putting a wooden stake in just because they were a little difficult to spot um with the current monuments or bounds that were
located and then um we're hoping to use these wood stakes to host a hybrid meeting um so that we can go out in the field and just kind of get a visual of the town um town boundaries and key
property bounds uh that uh is within the project study area jamie if I might add um we're required to notify all of the butters of work to be done such as the work that you just
mentioned scheduled for this Thursday and those notices were uh delivered uh today to all of the BS giving them more than 24 hours thank you Arthur yep yeah yeah thanks Arthur you did it didn't you didn't you
actually deliver it uh yeah it was a pleasure you're a gentleman and a scholar had a chance to chat with some people and thank for doing that thank you very much for doing that you're very welcome yes i hope you stayed warm out there today
i put them in plastic cases because it was a little bit wet this morning down there jamie can I ask you something you uh anticipate a some kind of a visual inspection meeting uh who who would be
invited to that um and when do you envision that happening um I would in well we envision it happening after we provide the draft of the final deliverable
um to the internal town team that we've been working with um and then I envision you know we we would open this up to um anyone who has been in the meetings to date um with
this project but it wouldn't be open to the public not yet um we do have a public meeting planned as part of the last task of this project um I guess in in regards to timeline I I would
envision you know end of April beginning of May hopefully but it depends on um any additional feedback that we may receive tonight um so that we can have time to incorporate the the input that uh is provided
all right and and just you know in the interest of transparency uh when when these stakes go up will it be ev evident that you know there there are going to be some identifiable encroachments um and I I know that will
become an issue or hopefully not an issue but at least in terms of notice to uh some of the land owners um I think we'd have agreed to involve town council at that perspect at at that stage but this is not simply I mean the reality of
it is when we put up when you put up the stakes uh it may become evident to some people that there are some private buildings on public land yes I believe I I believe it will become evident uh so the wooden stakes will be
spray painted orange uh so they will be very clearly marked and noticeable um on the resident notification it did say that we're installing these wooden stakes on behalf of the town of Milton and then we'll also be GPS locating the
um installation uh spots where we will install the wooden stakes it's about like 13 to 15 wooden stakes will be going out on Thursday perfect thank you very much and and that is to continue the
conversation of you know going out there and looking and and just being aware of the property encroachments i know we uh previously did a review on paper but sometimes it's also helpful to visually
see um the property bounds uh for both parties being the residents and the town um to have a better idea of uh the path forward perfect that's kind of the hopes there okay so um moving forward here's
an overall view of the proposed concept plan that um so this is um an updated draft we are working on since uh incorporating the the feedback from the
visioning workshop that we recently held at the end of March um so I will go through quickly each of the um you know in uh further views of the
each sheet of the overall but just to give you an idea of of how the trail network is uh being proposed to be laid out we have about 1,500 linear feet of new trail shown in the railroad corridor
uh starting off of Granite A here and it would be tying into the uh crosswalk along Granite A and then the new trail along the railroad corridor would tie into the
existing trail this would be all resurfaced or new uh accessible trail surface and then it would lead uh out and follow the same alignments that it falls today out to Black
Rock and then the other section of trail that we're proposing is the mount out to uh Mount Hope Canal where it starts at the end of or the intersection off of Thistle and Riverside
Avenue so now I'll go into a little bit more uh oops into more detail on each section of the concept plan so as I said the new trail head uh would start off of Granite A tying into
existing pedestrian connectivity and proposing to redesate uh the parking area across the street um into a shared parking area for users that are wanting um to walk the the trail the new trail
would be a minimum of 5 foot wide and would be an accessible uh surface treatment um and then in the brighter green areas uh we are showing either a vegetative
enhancement or green space uh to enhance where maybe we've seen property encroachments such as yard debris or um existing sheds so relocating that and um bringing back
tree cover or salt tolerant shrubs of um such and then about 600 ft at 600t intervals we've located um accessible park benches as rest areas along the
trail to pro provide further um access to users moving along the trail here where the new trail system would tie into the existing trail um you would also see
here this is something that we've incorporated from the visioning workshop since discussing with the city of Quincy that they also mentioned they're interested in um improving the portion
of trail that now crosses over the town of Milton Line into the city of Quincy at zero Harriet A and there may be opportunity there to tie in the trail system on the Milton side into um to
better tie in the trail system from Milton to Quincy because there are users that come over from the Quincy side to get out to Black Rockck again we have located a rest area and now you'll begin to see trail signage and educational signage out to
Black Rockck and then at the point out at Black Rock we've um proposed a pergola with seating area as a vista point for users to um
sit out and enjoy this area and river access as well as potentially bird watching and enjoying the uh natural habitat and estuary along the Mount Hope Canal side we've shown um a new trail tying into
the existing sidewalk off of Thistle A and then resurfacing the existing trail again to be ADA compliant and then um potentially uh proposing a canoe and
kayak launch ramp as well as accessible picnic area and educational signage uh adjacent to the Mount Hope Canal so um we also discussed during the visioning workshop what would be
feasible what would be a feasible approach to building out this uh trail network and um some of the feedback that we uh considered was a phased approach
and breaking this uh project out into three parts one would be you see here um hatched in blue would be the railroad corridor so that would be the new trail alignment about 1500 linear feet
to the existing trail and then the uh resurfacing of the existing trail out to Black Rock would be potentially phase two and phase three would be the buildout of the Mount Hope Canal and
parking area and then just to give you an idea of what some of these features such as the surface treatments that we're considering um the ADA surface treatments or potential art installations and structures along the
trail um and interpretive trail signage might look like i've provided some um examples of uh president images um just to give some ideas of what the trail system could look like here in
Milan so for surface treatments I've shown five different surface treatments from left to right uh left being less costly but could be higher maintenance and uh moving along to the right more
costly but less long-term maintenance so um we did initially get some feedback on the compacted stone dust material um during the visioning workshop and the
preference was to avoid using the stone dust material so I'd be interested in seeing what the conservation commission's opinion here is today on what types of material they would like to see the trail built out with and also
please note that you know the trail could also be a combination of these surface treatments um in order to reduce cost and also provide less of um environmental impact
jamie uh on that very point um one of the things we discussed at the whatever you call it vision envisioning uh workshop was that a portion of this trail area is inundated periodically and when I say periodically it's not just
regular tides it's sometimes it's whatever king tides or full moon tides or the big tides so to the extent that uh there are areas that are regularly inundated with water the stone dust might not work um because of the you
know it could get carried away by the tide itself so in in thinking about this these alternative treatments of the path to make it uh ADA accessible uh we really have to keep our eye on where the flooding is going to occur and by the
way the flooding is going to get worse not better over the 50 years or so yeah and that's why I mentioned that it could be a combination in areas so maybe in uh the area along the railroad corridor the town could s consider uh that portion of
the trail being a compacted stone dust and then out towards the black rock area could transition to a wooden boardwalk or a fiberglass grading um in order to be more cost
effective uh but if the concern is wanting to be cohesive in the design then I definitely think you know going with with something that is more capable of enduring uh flooding and inundation
that would that would definitely be the materials towards the right of the screen and then some art features and structures um the town could consider when building out the trail system I've shown here uh for example a wooden
viewing platform that's also has a ramp so it's ADA accessible and then just some fun things some fun features like adding some deck etchings if there was to be a wooden boardwalk and then lastly I'm showing
some examples of interpretive trail signage so uh we want to definitely have a story board along the trail i think that's been some consistent feedback we've received throughout the process so
far and also the importance of having trail head signage before users uh walk along the trail they have an understanding of the slope of the trail or length of the trail and
intervals that rest areas are available so users can make the decision for themselves whether they can how far they can walk out along the trail to each of their capabilities you know while while you're thinking I'm
talking to the commission members and and the public um while you're thinking about some of these alternative uh means of providing public access um Tom you may know this better than anyone but a few years back we approved a a boardwalk
and a like sort of a viewing station over the wet meadow at H Hotton's Pond and I haven't been there in quite a while i I pointed out Tom because I bet you have but how is that boardwalk working out do you know Tom or anybody
yeah um it's on posts wooden boardwalk on post going through an actual wetland and uh I think it's been well maintained but I really don't know much about its condition and I've just seen it from the
playground and the little museum there and you see people walking out along it um I think it's really a more ambitious construction than is needed anywhere along here because most of these trails
seem to be dry most of the time and uh they are used as you know the neighborhoods on both sides use them and particularly of Black Rock i think it already is stone dust and you can walk up and down whenever just as you can at
the MWRA embankment that goes from Ventura Park to the river in Dorchester another hardcaped embankment that regularly floods but doesn't seem to wash away so I would say stone dust might be an
alternative wherever you don't have a lot of running water that would take away fine materials good thanks Tom i think also a great option that's kind of meeting in between the stone dust and maybe a
harder infrastructure like a wooden boardwalk would be the geopave it's the It's a gravel porous pa system it's um it's a grid system and then you fill in the grid so it's interlocking the
aggregate material and this is I've seen this used in Vermont the example here I show is from Naples Florida in a wetland area is actually at an estuary in Naples Florida Rickery Bay Reserve and it's
gives a little bit uh easier to maintain versus maybe the compacted stone dust if it were to wash away I think there would be some more maintenance compared to the other material options I've shown on the
screen yeah I'm I think I can say I'm pretty open-minded about whatever the treatment should be i mean these areas are used now and when they are improved as park access will a lot more people use
them i would guess not it will still be mostly the same people um that just seemed to be to me a thing you ought to take in account when you're planning right yeah and I think the driver here
really is and this came up during the the visioning workshop is the long-term maintenance of the trail system so it's kind of that initial cost versus long-term effort for upkeeping the trail
system and that's something that we'll present the pros and cons in our final deliverable and we'll cost out three of these options uh that seems like a good approach yeah
and then and then ultimately it will provide you uh provide the town with the information to make a decision on maintenance and costs in order to select uh types of surface treatments moving
forward so then I think we've covered most of this but just uh I categorize some of the key takeaways from the feedback we've received so far between short-term planning and long-term planning so some
key takeaways in the short term would be that the driver of the design is accessibility and maintenance material selection the surface treatment for the trail should you know minimize environmental
impacts uh for short-term planning we'll want to continue stakeholder collaboration with the city of Quincy and as well as potentially Norfolk County and then also continue internal
conversation about long-term maintenance responsibilities and then the long-term planning some key highlights that were also mentioned is looking at climate adaptation and incorporating the Neponet
River wersheds report on the Nepona River and estuary and how that ties into the development and improvements to this trail system as well as looking into user
safety and education and just having that still be a focus uh as the trail uh design progresses and then looking at future connectivity opportunities as I
mentioned with the city of Quincy's trail system they're also looking on improving the trail so there there could be an option there maybe for a future grants um to to work with the city of
Quincy and the Ponzo River Wershed Association and then again longterm just looking at how can these trail improvements also enhance and restore some of the vegetative areas that we've
seen taken over by invasive species so next steps again like I mentioned Thursday we'll be going out and installing wooded stakes along key property bounds end of April beginning of May depending on any additional feedback we
receive we'll be working on wrapping up the uh draft memo fact sheets and conceptual design and costs and then following that we would like to host a hybrid progress meeting to review project deliverables
and walk the project site so we can look at those wooded stakes and where they were installed along the key property bounds and then to wrap up the project our last task is to present all of this information at a public
meeting and that's the update I have for tonight jamie that was very uh very good um succinct direct um I'm I'm very pleased that you were able to present tonight maybe we ought to put this on our May
agenda anyway i don't know if we're going to I know it says early midmay but just to protect the public record we should put it on our agenda for the May meeting uh because this looks like we might be at a at a time to at least get up to speed as to uh where you are on
the public meeting sure I can talk to Arthur about that following um I think it really depends on if there's any more feedback we need to incorporate into this draft
submission in order to have the hybrid progress meeting but I you know I I look forward to pushing this along and and hopefully meeting our early to midmay uh deadline this is this is this is great news
actually although I I I alert the other commission members that you know the what Jamie said about the on and plan is actually pretty significant because as Arthur has reminded us several times that this land now belongs to the conservation commission is 33 acres or
so um but we don't have the capacity to really maintain it so we're going to be leaning a lot on uh the DPW so we this is really a collaborative effort here because whatever we whatever we do whatever the you know the phase the
final phase is in terms of what you know what's stone dust and what's you know crushed you know gravel what's boardwalk it has a cost to it but the maintenance part of it is going to be critical and so one of the biggest stakeholders in this whole project is the DBW and uh
Marina Fernandez has been very good and cooperative and collaborative So we're continuing to uh hold her hand or ask her for her guidance and support i think too Arthur you had mentioned potentially reaching out to the parks
department to looking into their capabilities for upkeeping a trail system that's right and um I think what we might consider doing is inviting the director of parks and recreation to the
next meeting and any other stakeholders that commissioners might want to recommend if you agree that that would be appropriate just might also mention that in the envisioning meeting uh we had uh
represented from Quinsey the city engineer a member of the um planning uh staff in the city of Quinsey a member of the Quinsey Conservation Commission an environmentalist from uh the city of
Quinsey and um Sean McKenty from the Neponet River Wershed Associ assiation who's um overseeing a very broad uh estuary study and he's providing the flood maps so we will have all of that
information uh as well for our next presentation i hope everybody's been uh very cooperative very collaborative and just to add to that I just want to remind everyone that this isn't um our
plan and our study for this project isn't just um you know putting something on paper and okay go build it like that our our final deliverable is is going to incorporate further considerations and recommendations to continue coordinating
with stakeholders as Arthur mentioned with the city of Quincy and the Neponsite River Wershed Association so that we can continue to get folks talking get people excited about this
project and figure out um you know a a feasible approach to building out this trail system that that makes sense for the city and or for the town and the stakeholders and with that I want to
remind you that um one key next step is going to be coordination uh with the privatelyowned property here and Wendy you've got your hand up there um yes thank you John i uh I just wanted
to to bring to everyone's attention that our next meeting is May 13th it's a little bit later than than usual just because of the way that the calendar falls so um so hopefully that would would be enough time that that we would
be able to have um Jamie you come back for a public meeting at our our next concom meeting um I think we could schedule it if you know everything shapes up that way and
we're able to have the hybrid meeting beforehand and coordinate with folks and then finalize the public presentation our our last presentation is a public presentation in person so um I would I
would love to make that May 13th meeting i guess it um it doesn't only just depend on my uh timeline but just continuing to collaborate with with everybody on the team as well and I'll definitely put on my calendar
don you you had also um um questioned who else we might invite to to that meeting um I know that we had mentioned the um um the director of parks and wreck but I'm I'm thinking also all of
the board members would be great to invite them as well as the um the members of the community preservation committee um since especially since um the CPC has funded
right yeah and we will be looking for more money they are definitely a stakeholder and we will exactly and be looking for for more money for the implementation um and and if if in fact we are able to um to have this phase of
the project wrapped up by miday then we could um pursue funding for the imple implementation for the next round of CPA applications um and that that first
phase of that funding application is the end of May so it would be tight but but we could do it sounds like a good plan yeah and and you you may want to talk to
Tom about whether or not he wants to announce you know a a public meeting and have a joint public meeting uh in May or at some point we'll we'll definitely have to do that but that might be at the the actual public presentation
um it it's it's it's it's certainly a a great idea to have I mean I know you're the eyes and ears of uh the the uh preservation act committee uh here and you're our designate there um but it
I'm just wondering whether or not at that first meeting it should be a joint public meeting for both committees um and others or or perhaps just representatives but clearly the next step after that which would be the public uh announcement of this and
probably we could do it on site as we did the sitewalk uh but that's that's just it's just a thought down the road but you're right it's all within the mid to end of May because we got to move pretty quickly on this and funding is will be critical to phase two right
right and and since since the the funding is only open once a year I I would hate to miss this next round and then have to wait until 2026
what information I guess would you would you need um in order to apply for the for the CPC application in this round i'm sorry Jamie could you repeat your question please
what in what information or what final deliverables would you need in order to apply for the next round of CPC funding um for example if if we were to finalize the draft concept plan and cost could
instead of having If like for example the the presentation timing didn't work out could the town still move forward with the CPC application having hand the preliminary cost estimates and
conceptual design i I think we could I think the um the more finalized things would be obviously the better um the way that the CPA funding cycle works is that there's um
letters of intent that are due at the end of May and then and then those those initial applications that are um considered to be um in alignment with the the regulations and to the liking of
the committee then they are invited to proceed to the next phase of the application process and then that final application pro process is due at the end of September so there would be you
know a few more months time that things could be finalized my my only concern would be that um if we're still in the um in the draft phase um when the letters of intent are due at
the end of May that um it's possible that some committee members might not feel comfortable in proceeding to um invite the commission to submit a full a full application
so um you know I I obviously I I'm I can't speak on behalf of the entire um community preservation committee but I think that just generally speaking the more that um that we've finalized things
and have a um hopeful strong support from from the public and as much of a um of an idea of what the cost would be the stronger our funding application will be
okay yeah that makes sense i think I you know I think we would definitely have the the costs and the concept planned in hand by the end of May just not sure entirely uh maybe
Arthur could speak more to you know the timing of when we we're thinking for the public presentation because we're we're still kind of fine-tuning things with the internal team on that last uh last task
would be that public presentation but I do agree i think you know having as much feedback and engagement with the public would uh would only help this project spirit forward with the CBC
all right sounds like a plan that we can move forward and Arthur if yall work with Jamie this a question where do you work with J to see if we can get that concept plan and preliminary cost estimates uh ready to go by the May
meeting the 13th of May sounds good is that good Arthur we'll be working on it absolutely all right and then no alternative and then why why don't you Wendy drove a
hard bargain in her comment wendy can you ask um I know the the committee chair that is a CPC chair uh if if uh he would or the committee would prefer a joint meeting or just have a representative but somebody should be
there in addition to you obviously um yes at the May meeting [Music] either one is either one is good with us a sitewalk John that we had um what 18 months ago or so on location was uh a
joint meeting yeah I said that's what I said right so we'll leave it up to him if he wants a joint meeting that's great if he wants just to you know have representatives less than a quorum that's great too but
they're a major stakeholder um and uh maybe we ought to Yeah arthur what do you think about asking Sean McCy to um appear as well absolutely and a representative from Quinzy yeah that would be good good idea all
around all right so um would you Arthur would you take care of inviting Sean and the representative from Quinsey whomever they want uh and then Wendy you'll take care of talking to the CPC folks yes perfect
all right well we look forward to that meeting just so I make sure that I that I'm understanding um what it is that I'm asking of of Tom um so we're we're hopefully going to be having um Jamie come back to present at
at our next CPC meeting excuse me at our next conservation commission meeting on May 13th and then in addition to that there is also going to be a another in-person on-site presentation later
that would be the public meeting the LA latter one would be the public well I mean they're both public meetings and they'd be you know properly announced and notice would go out as to the uh open meeting law but the first one is a conservation commission meeting to discuss the concept plan and the
preliminary costs and then it would be after I think after that according to Jaime's schedule uh that she contemplates you know having the public uh meeting and that that could be done on site as well i I think that's what Jamie you were
contemplating correct yeah i it just uh this hybrid progress meeting there's uh we're trying to have a hybrid progress meeting before we finalize the plans and present to the
public and that's what that this progress meeting is for so in between the progress meeting before or after the progress meeting we'll have the meeting I'll be back for the conservation commission meeting on May 13th and then
following that would would be the public presentation [Music] does that answer your question Wendy uh no I I actually now I'm more confused jamie did so did you say that that you're actually going to be presenting
to us three times the the hybrid progress meeting the second bullet here on this on this screen that's that is not our our conservation commission meeting that's something separate that's not it's Yeah so so what we had scoped for this
project was um after we provide the internal project town team that we've been working with with the draft deliverable the final draft deliverable that includes our writeup our final
conceptual design and cost estimating we want to give some time for you guys to digest and then we would have a hybr hybrid progress meeting to get your overall feedback before we
finalize those documents and have a public presentation so that's what that hybrid meeting is for and to also walk the project site and look at the where the
wooden stakes have been installed it's analogous to the uh meeting that we had earlier with the DBW staff the select board that was referred to as a visioning
meeting that's right yeah this is just this meeting is basically the wrap up with the internal team before we meet or present to the public so the the May 13th meeting is a
additional meeting i would be happy to join virtually and and provide another progress update as I have today so John and colleagues we'd be able to take the input received from the second if I can use the term
envisioning meeting into uh the preparation for the uh select board meeting i mean the u this my old hat the uh conservation commission meeting on May 13 and then all of that would lead into the public presentation so there's
a nice sort of a sequence of steps Are are you good Wendy um yes but except that I'm I'm wondering now um that it's more clear and thank you for that um if it would make more sense for us to wait to invite the CPC until the the final
public presentation right that that maybe I wasn't clear but I I was suggesting that if the chair would like to attend it's not a quorum even with you present um to have a representative from CPC at our our May
meeting and then we could have the joint meeting of both the commission and the and the committee at the public hearing i we don't need two I don't think we need two joint meetings if they would like to have it that's fine with me but
but I don't think it's necessary right i just want to make sure that we get as much communication as possible that was the purpose of the the first envisioning meeting because we had people we're trying to get people from Blue Cross Blue Shield because they own the private land so we're trying to get
them involved all the stakeholders were there and Arthur went through the folks from Quinsey and uh the NEPA people were there Sean McCy and um so that that's kind of what I call the working group um so you're right there there are three
steps i don't think we need two joint meetings and and you may be the appropriate representative of the CPC at the May 13th meeting but I think you should ask the chair um if he would like others in attendance either short of a quorum if
he'd like a joint meeting then fine i don't think it's necessary but whatever he wants okay thank you okay all right good anything else any members of the public have a question or comment i can't see anybody with a hand up i don't know if
if uh Steve can no John okay well hearing none and and seeing none I I think we're good and we look forward to uh seeing you again in May jamie thank you very much for your presentation i just like to address the chairman that Jamie and her colleagues
have done a great job and they've been a pleasure to work with very collaborative very cooperative very responsive that's good news thank you it's great to work with you all as well have a good evening all right thank you
all right next on the agenda is number three certificate of compliance 485 487 Blue Hills Parkway that is uh the ice house and Charlie I don't know where you are but I think you should recuse yourself
from this one and I believe I don't know is is uh do we have somebody to present i think we do we don't have anyone presenting John [Music] um All right well you you'll certainly
recuse yourself from the vote on this but um I have a question for you it we we have been there for the public's benefit the commission actually had a sitewalk uh just a couple of months ago or a few months ago when when u uh the
applicant had agreed to extend the public walking path uh from the edge of the property to actually connect it to the existing walking path around Pope's Pond that was not on the original plan but the applicant said "Sure we'll do
it." Which was good news to us um so the only and and Steve Ivis has been to the site has has inspected it we've got the attestation from your uh engineer and uh that's everything seems to be in order uh see and Steve I'll turn it over to
you and you could certainly uh address the issue um but one of the questions I had was that we have a a two growing season um requirement for the plantings and the plantings are pretty new so we
haven't gone through that so I guess my question uh and Charlie now you're wearing a different hat um but can I ask you this is uh do you need the certificate of compliance in its entirety at this point because we
can address the building issue but I think we should reserve on the plantings to make sure that we um that we reach the performance standard by the state wetlands protection act that 75% of the plantings
remain for u two year two growing season so is it necessary to split the split is what I'm asking well I I I cannot speak for the building inspector uh under the order of conditions that were issued uh with the
permit um we had to apply for um sign off from the commission now I don't believe that the building the commissioner would have a problem because this is pretty standard practice as long as we had a certificate um with
a u a caveat of uh the the the plantings will be inspected in um 24 months or how however you guys want to handle it right and and we've done that before we've made the certificate of compliance contingent
upon uh achievement of that 75% survival after uh two years mhm okay i I just didn't know if there was some other you know sometimes financing require because we get this issue with new homes and and the purchaser of the home comes in and says "Listen I've got to clear it with
the bank." Um and it's it puts pressure on them so we sometimes carve out that 75% survival rate after two years right now we are not in that position okay all right all right so has everyone had an
opportunity to um uh read the attestation by uh Joe Murphy uh Piggy 159 Pine Street Quinsey Mass we've got his stamp on here and uh the magic words for the conservation
commission uh for the public's benefit is that um uh the PE says I hereby certified the work has been sub satisfactory completed and is in substantial conformance with noted plans those are the approved plans that we issued with the order conditions
um Steve what can you address that issue because you've been there recently and inspected the site uh yes I would agree agree entirely with that statement okay substantially complete uh with the plans i don't think I need to say
anything more do I not from my perspective no not at all uh question from commission members uh comments questions commission members hearing none what about members
of the public either a buddy any citizen yeah hi John my name is Roy how are you good good good welcome i I went down to the site today and uh and I was I was really happy to see that uh behind the
building there that they've set up uh public parking for people who want to walk around the path uh pathway around Pope's Pond so there's designated parking there um then I went to walk
down the pathway that heads down to uh Hope's Pond and uh halfway down there is an enormous tree has fallen over the uh pathway um forcing you to walk around
through the brush to try to get down to the uh down to the pathway so I just want to bring that to your attention now I don't know who owns that property there whether it's the uh the commission or um or the property owners but it's an
enormous tree it's right across the path that they have uh created there also uh I do have a question oh maybe Steve you can answer this one um right behind the building's a holding pond um quite large
probably 20 by 50 ft that uh appears to be holding storm water runoff that then uh flows into that holding pond and it's uh especially with the with the rain recently it's uh you know it's a couple
feet deep um and then it flows into a another pipe that goes into the Pine Tree brook um do we have anything do you know anything about that holding pond or I remember we Yes we rec we requested
that we had uh a number of large storms within the last year that created some issues there was a sheet flow and some channelization heading from the parking area right down to the brook uh and some of the siltation u had gone from the
property so what we asked the applicant to do was to put in you know some kind of uh uh environmental controls and we didn't specify exactly what it was but uh what the applicant did was to put in it was I'm I'm going to guess now 4t
wide crush stone there was a pretty large area to a slow the water down b um stop any kind of uh you know suspended solids from you know going through and silting uh into the wetlands um and we
went out there and inspected that and then there was another component to that uh because the property line is is actually closer to the driveway than you might think and the land on the other side is actually owned by the
conservation commission so we asked the applicant to kind of go outside the order of conditions and do some plantings on our side when I say our I'm talking about the conservation commission owned land so they went back about another 50 ft or so and I I can't
remember the number but it's probably I don't know 40 to 50 shrubs that that were put in there or small trees um and that was it was I'll call it a courtesy because it wasn't part of the plan but we needed help there um so as part of
that project both of replanting on our side of the property line and in retaining that water a lot of the water was diverted to that uh detention basin but that was done we had engineering plans submitted to us we looked at it we approved the plan and uh Stephen you can
comment better than I can but it's seemed to work pretty well uh yes as a matter of fact it's working extremely well it it works as a initial drop to any suspended solids in
the in the uh runoff water there so it's it's a very good thing to have uh it'll be ne it'll need a little bit of on andm uh over the years but that's an easy thing to do with heavy equipment
all right um I'm very happy with it there yeah okay i you know I just just wanted to make sure that it was uh something that the commission had agreed to um because it does flow into the pine tree
brook um the other thing is what do we have any uh followup on that tree i mean it's if you go down and take a look it's a monstrous tree jolly I don't know i haven't seen it but can you answer that yeah I can answer that uh for the
commission and and for Mr chambers yeah that tree came down in the past week and it is massive it's probably 4 feet wide uh to it it's we actually had a tree company come down there today uh because it's too big for our people to handle
and we don't want to bring heavy equipment into the conservation land because it is in conservation land it is on conservation commission property so that tree we're gonna handle it the same
way that we the thought is um we handle that tree the same way that we handled the previous trees that came down Steve when we first met out there yes we decided to cut the tree just where the
path area is and leave the rest of it to nature in fact that that's a really good thing to do because there is a lot of um class lessons you can have next to that tree people walking by
um yeah it'll be very educational for anybody walking by that tree to watch it watch it deteriorate over over the years can somebody tell me if I'm walking from the apartments to the
pond what side of the trail the tree was on was on the right side or the left side no it's it's directly through the trail Tom directly across it 90 degrees if you want it fall from the right or the left it fell from the right and went
left so if you're standing with your back towards the apartments or the condos it went from the right side across the path to the left it is It was the biggest tree that was out there i think that was a Somebody else was talking excuse
me that was a swamp white oak it was the biggest tree out there and it's a a long lived large tree and uh it's too bad it went over because uh I was hoping that area was sort of firm and dry enough for
it to hold on indefinitely would you say the wind blew it over well the upon my visual it it looks like it was it was fairly rotted around the bottom huh so it broke off yeah the tree
looked like it was was totally dead anyways and really that's the way it looked to me anyways I must be thinking of a different tree then this if you were walking along that pathway and that tree came down you'd be gone
for sure oh for sure but it ruins the whole concept of having a pathway going down to uh the pond because now the path is blocked yeah it won't be for very long we'll have them out there in the next 10 days
to to cut the midsection out and uh get the access to that pond to the the Pope's back and and then we can all watch it deteriorate and you'll see some interesting things happen
okay so that's that's actually a good thing you'll that's I I look at it as a wonderful teaching lesson well I I think we'll get a black bear to move into the stunt hole the best the best lesson I think is that there's
parking right there so people can drive around down the back of the building and park a car there they have signs uh designated that this is for people who want to walk the trail which is nice you got four or five cars that can park
there so it uh then you just get on that pathway and you're right right down the Pope's bond right and and Roy so you know that that was part of our original order of conditions and I think it was part of the ZBA eligibility the comprehensive
permit as well correct all right so that that was part of the plan and I'm not trying to take it away from Charlie because yeah we've been very courteous including this tree the tree I I don't know where it came from the right to the left i don't know if that's our land or your land or whose
land it is but uh we're very grateful for you jumping on board and cutting out the middle happy to do it thank you all right any other thoughts comments questions all right is there a motion to
issue the certificate of compliance uh based upon the attestation by the uh uh professional engineer Joe Murphy the the stamped uh attestation is in our packet u and also based upon the inspection by Steve Ibis uh with a special condition
that um we will revisit the uh 2-year mod 24 month mark uh to make sure that we've got 75% uh survival of the planting plan so move Mr chairman thank you Arthur is there a second for that second
thank you um so we'll go through a roll call vote uh is there any discussion first um hearing none uh Ingred how do you vote i Arthur yes wendy yes tom Palmer yes and I vote yes as well john
Kieran um thank you very much and there was one abstension and uh Hans was not present but other than that it was unanimous so thank you very much for your courtesy and thanks Roy for your comments my my pleasure we'll see you out there on the trail all
right i'm sure the pond's alive and well all right next on the agenda is number four that's a notice of intent Route 28 Chikatab Road um and this one's a big
one i know we've got sort of a digital file that's big uh do we have a presenter this evening yeah hi uh Chris Lyman from Howard Side Hudson um also with me is Stephen Tyler the PM from Howard Side Hudson and uh
Courtney Walker from Mass D oh great thanks welcome to all of you thank you tell us what you what you're doing am I able to share screen am I able to share my screen
steve you might need your help on this yes um and that's for maybe he's got it now yep are you guys able to see my screen yes there you go good good um so the project that I'm going to discuss
tonight is Mass UT project um intersection improvements at Route 28 Randolph Avenue at Chickab Road um this is adjacent to the parking lot next to the Blue Hills uh reservation in
Milton um the purpose of the project um was basically to increase safety at this intersection location and add pedestrian and bicycle accommodations and connections at this location uh this intersection continuously is a top five
crash location in the state of Massachusetts um so really the big emphasis was on increasing the safety at this intersection location u Mass is proposing to replace existing signalized intersection at this location at Randolph Avenue at uh Chikava Road with
a roundabout um the proposed roundabout will maintain the two-lane approach on route 28 and a single lane approach on Chikatava Road it is also proposing a 10- foot wide chair path um on all sides of the intersection um to help have
better uh and safe pedestrian and bicycle connections that will connect to the existing sidewalk network north of this intersection we're also proposing three retaining walls um in this project and that's helped to um uh limit the amount of impacts to resource areas
around this project um so just to kind of go over some of the impacts on for this project um the resource areas within this project are bordering bench wetlands certified rental pools that are within the BBW um endangered species habitat and estimated
rare species habitat um there's no other resource areas within these project limits um including ACC's outstanding resource waters or porting lands subject to flooding um Um so I'm going to go over the impacts
that um are coming up from this this project um the first being there's 652 square feet of temporary impact VVW um those impacts are from the installation of the sediment control barriers um along the back of the wetlands here to
um stop any runoff from the construction going into the um BBW itself there's also 1,121 um square feet of permanent impacts um those are happening in two separate locations the first one being down here
between wetland flag 208 and 213 which is roughly 741 square feet of permanent impacts that are caused from the installation of this shuse path and sidewalk which you can see here the impact is this red section here u proposed guardrail and the retaining
wall the retaining wall again was put in place to help limit the amount of impacts to the existing BBW uh along with lighting accommodation to help improve uh sight line and for both pedestrians and vehicular safety um there's also on the other side
there's uh roughly 320 square feet of BVW impacts again these are mostly from a modular retaining wall that was put in place um to limit the impacts to the BVW um as I also said this project is
located uh within endangered species um habitat but I do want to make the point that none of the BBW impacts are actually within the endangered species habitat all the endangered species habitat is on the um southern side of the project which is this orange hatched
area here um we did have a uh wetland habitat evaluation done by Lucas Environmental um and they found the wetland impact areas didn't will not result in any uh substantial uh reduction in the site's overall capacity um to provide important wildlife uh
functions to this location um there's also some buffer zone impacts um there's some temporary buffer room impact of roughly uh 14,126 um square feet and that's mostly from the existing roadway reconstruction
um there's some grading changes happening along there to uh better level out um the intersection for better sight lines there's also uh 57,394 square feet of permanent um buffer zone impacts and again a lot of that's from the installation of the
shared use path um and the widening of the existing roadway pavement to make room for the proposed roundabout um to mitigate these impacts we're proposing a approximately a 1,300 square foot uh replication area
directly adjacent to the permanent impact of BVW um that can be seen in this magenta section here um and then there will be restoration of the temporary impacts along the uh
sediment control barrier um with a wetland seed mix the wetland replication area um is being designed um with existing vegetation cover types functions values um to and they'll provide more improvement to this BBW um
the replicated wetland area will be graded to create a hydraulic gradient um that supports the range of covers and pipes that were proposed for this project um and like I said after the grading is complete of this wetland area and the construction is finalized um the
sediment control barriers will be removed and a wetland semix will be put down to restore those temporary impacts we were also proposing to include um drainage uh updates at this location um one of them being a uh updating the
outfall at this location basically just putting more stabilization rock at this storm water outfall down here um to better stabilize the bank of the outfall itself um and we'll be putting in silt sacks at all existing and proposed cache
basins uh within the project limits um I don't know whether Courtney or Steve would like to add anything to um what I've presented on so far can I ask a question and this is really not an environmental question but uh and
I know there are not a lot of pedestrians in this area but there's a light there now so it allows for pedestrian crossing and I know it's a dangerous intersection but the rotary how do you get people across
there yeah so um we have pedestrian hybrid beacons going in so it's a form of a light um at these that is only on route 28 so there'll be a pedestrian hybrid beacon basically a pedestrian come or bicycle come press the button it'll
initiate a stop control um on the approaches on Route 28 so it'll give a protected crossing for pedestrians or bicyclists who are crossing um and then on Chikataba Road here and here we are proposing flashed um the flashing beacons at this location um which isn't
a stop control but it is the flashing beacons that at least alerts um vehicular traffic that there is a pedestrian trying to enter the crosswalk great okay thank you i'm I'm sorry on that on this diagram
right now which way is north yep so uh north is to the right of the screen here and south is um to the left of the screen all right so the barn that that we inspected a few years well probably more than a few years now probably five or six years um there was going to be
rehabbed or moved or something is to the right side of the diagram yep let me uh might be right off the right off the diagram yeah I can pull up the sheet i think the barn you're talking about is this structure right here this wooden barn structure right here that's at the
uh I guess the southern limits look like there yeah because we had seen some some uh wetlands in that area when we were there a few years back yeah in fact they're on the they're on the plan John
yeah we we've added the wetland uh the wetland here um and given that buffer zone as I said and from that wetland there is some uh permanent and temporary buffer zone impacts from that wetland uh strictly in this location where we're adding um the sidewalk and you can see we're slightly widening um the roadway
here to accommodate the roundabout good okay yeah that was just orientation chris how far south is that sidewalk going is it going down to the barn no it does not go down to the barn so you can
see the barns um here and the sidewalk well the sidewalk or the the shady path stops at this location um right here so it's only um a couple hundred feet I guess you you call it south of the existing uh intersection okay thank you
well can I ask why it's why a rotary is now a roundabout because it's the same thing right um I know that the specifically the terminology we're using is for the roundabout it's basically has to do with the size and the function um of a
roundabout again like rotaries aren't always roundabouts but roundabouts are a form of of of a rotary that makes sense um the roundabouts are strictly um a certain size and uh they try to minimize um speed of traffic entering and exiting
um the intersection um as I look at this and I look at the I guess it was would be the southeast quadrant here i don't see any you didn't put up an existing condition plan which would help us understand how this
relates to what's there now and I know in that quadrant there is a parking lot and it also it also has a gate that extends across Shikataba Road what's happening to that parking lot and that
gate yes so so um you're talking about this uh location down here there's a parking lot so um we are part of this project is um reconstructing part of this parking lot here um at this location um and if
you go farther up let me just go one more go one more here so you can get a better look of this side just get a better so this is the parking lot you're talking about here this is the the parking lot to the Blue Hills Reservation here um and the gate structure you are talking about um is
right here you can kind of see the existing gate structure here we are maintaining those gate structures right now right now we're just removing and resetting it as part of this um part of this project so those gates will be remaining to me the mitigation of that project
should include a consideration of how to increase the value of the priority habitat here and uh what I'm talking about is trying to
prevent animals from being run over which common cause of death uh I think the project as a whole is permittable for wetland impacts as
you're suggesting but it should take some imagination and creativity to address this habitat issue yeah we we've been um we did submit a Misa checklist and a copy of this NOI to Natural Heritage we've also been talking
with Fish and Wildlife um about that exact issue you just brought up um it wasn't in the scope of this project um but we have been talking to Fish and Wildlife and they've been talking about potentially um putting in gates um updated gates to help um again get
seasonal closures for this location but that is not um in the scope of this this project um but it we were we have been um working with along with Mass and Fish and Wildlife um and DCR to work with
that uh potential problem of of endangered species and species getting hit in this location thank you and one more remark uh as you go south on 28 from here you're going through the reservation very popular for people to
visit and many people park on Route 28 to the south particularly beyond the wetland that is at the southwest slope of Chikatava Hill and uh I'm one of those people often parks on 28 to visit the park and when I get back in my car I
have to get back onto 28 and the way I'm able to do that is the light that's there now creates breaks in the traffic where there will be a little gap where no car is coming and will those gaps
still happen when that light is replaced by this proposal um I don't know if I know we've been talking to other residents there too about that the same concerns about um gaps happening at their driveways um
again there is a potential those gaps might be uh less significant um but Steve I don't know if you wanted to add anything about it um specifically because I know we've been doing you know some memos too about about those specific um gaps that were caused by the
existing signalized intersection sure Chris I'll jump in if allowed through the chair sure thank you my name is Steve Carter with Howard Stein Hudson um in answer to um Mr palmer's question there is a difference in gaps expected
um separately there's been some corridor studies that are kind of looking at that effect and what effect it has for people pulling out and so forth um so those are available um but there will be a change in conditions on the route 28 corridor with the change from a signal to a
roundabout i think that your question Tom well another question sound good but yeah another question is uh as I look at the tobos the difference in grade from one side of this rotary to
the other is about 10 ft and when I first heard about the idea I wondered well how do you put a rotary on the side of a hill um so I I guess my question is how much cutting and filling do you have to
do to fit this flat structure on a slope um I don't have the exact number the amount of cut and fill um we have but again there is some cut and fill happening um like you said um most parts of the roadway are being again you know
raised up um to allow for a more flatter intersection to improve safety for sight distance at this location um both for vehicles and pedestrians um but and that's the whole reason why we also put in some of the retaining walls to help mitigate some of the impacts that would
happen from us um you know changing some of the elevations of this intersection um because if we were to have to improve the sight lines with the with a signalized intersection um sometimes th those the retaining walls wouldn't necessarily be an option it
could lead to um a greater impact to the resource areas um but yeah there is a good amount of cut and fill happening at this location um to to like you said more flatten out this intersection to put in um this roundabout
oh one more followup to what John Kieran said uh you said there will be pedestrian cross on Route 28 south of the uh roundabout will there be ped pedestrian
crossings will there be four of them will be there pedestrian crossings at every side of this yeah yeah so so if you um look at the plan out here there is pedestrian crossings at all four legs of the um
roundabout itself on route 28 because of the higher speeds and the higher higher vehicle traffic at this location we are putting in actual pedestrian hybrid beacons we call them they're a stop control that basically is a red light that um stops traffic and allows
pedestrians to cross in a a controlled intersection um whereas on the Chicata road where the the speeds are a little bit less um we're putting in flashing beacons to again warn that there is a pedestrian um wanting to enter the crosswalk to cross the intersection but
yes there there is um crossings at all four legs of um the intersection uh thank you so is the wetlands currently flagged uh I believe they are yes okay because I
I' I'd like to take a um a sitewalk there i think it's appropriate um but I just want to make sure it's done under you know safe conditions for all of us because it it is a a difficult traffic area um I think
there'd be places for us to park uh either at the barn on 28 or Chikataba Road right where that fence uh the gate is that Tom was mentioning there's an area there does is anybody else interested in a sitewalk commission members yes yes
all right do we uh we typically do this on Saturday morning is that something that you could accommodate uh I should be able to yes very good what uh everybody if if you would look at your calendar to see
whether or not we can uh plan one in the next Well certainly within the next month dates in May how about next Saturday let's let's let's go through the uh Wendy can you make I'm I'm just
making it up i I don't have a preference for one Saturday or another um John that's the Saturday before Easter and some families may have Perfect how about the following Saturday works for me
what's it What's the date on it it's the 19th 26 i I'll be out of town on the 26th 26 uh No I I I won't be able to make it so wait a minute which which one is
Easter is it the 19 the 19th yeah Easter yeah but Arthur which one were you talking about the 19th or the 12th no you mentioned the the 19th and I said that no I said I said next Saturday oh
next Saturday that you mean this coming Saturday yeah yes it depends it depends on next Saturday you mean you mean by next this coming Saturday is the 12th is that the date you mean you're right i'm I'm just throwing out dates to
see what's most convenient for most people so we've got 1219 26 and what's the one after that that's it the what in April i don't think this went after the 26th is what third of May
may May thank you mhm all right so 12's too soon 19 is Easter 26 and May 3rd that looks to be our choices right so um let me just Who can do the
26th wendy you said no um let me see if we can get a quorum ingred can you do the 26th uh no that's two knows we're getting close here um uh Arthur okay okay
and I can do that day uh Tom Palmer tom you might be on mute i'm not sure charlie are you back i don't see you i'm I'm available all right good um all right so let's do the same thing for May 3 uh uh Wendy
I can do May 3rd good okay um Ingred hold on uh I can do it i have to would have to leave by 10
okay uh we can start up to Wendy but we can start as early as you want but no that if if we started at 8:30 I'm sure out of there by 10 we're not gonna be that long um how about Arthur can you do the third
okay tom Palmer May 3rd we lost him charlie can you do the third yes I can okay and I can do the third so we've got a quorum let's do May 3rd we'll start at 8:30 um and we can
meet we should probably try to you know have as few cars as possible maybe we can kind of team up and there should be sufficient parking if you're going up Randolph Avenue take a left on Chikatab but there's a parking area immediately on your right where the gate is it's not very big though it's pretty small not
many cars fit there i know three i'm just guessing the barn is across the street we still have the traffic light so the bond if you continue towards Randolph the barn is there's a driveway you can pull in there it's I'm not sure you can call it a driveway but there's room for a couple
of cars there so okay we'll figure out there's three cars John okay in front of the barn right and and we we've been there before so between those two spots we should be able to find sufficient safe spot um but
we'll try to meet near where the gate is on Chikataba Road um by the way is that house been sold did Did buy the the state buy the house the last one on the left is he heading towards Randolph this the state the house within this project
where the wetlands replication area has been acquired by the state all right what I'm really asking is it empty because they've got a driveway I think oh it's it's empty they're out we could block that driveway okay good all right so 8:30 May 3rd
Saturday on site perfect uh any other questions commissioners members of the public uh about users or not seeing none and hearing no other questions we'll see you on May 3rd thank you very much for your follow up sure
yeah so um understood uh site walk on um on May 3rd yes so I think technically are we continuing the hearing to the next session and trying to close it out then with anything follow up after the site visit
i I think the answer is we'll certainly try to do that right but there might be understood and what is the date of that hearing oh that's a public meeting that that site inspection we announced those as a public meeting so we can vote at the meeting
okay okay didn't follow that part um then we'll we will see you at the meeting i actually won't be at the meeting i'll be out of town that day but Chris will certainly be there and likely representatives from Mass Dot okay great so we have your ascent then to continue this meeting correct um
Courtney yep and I it's my understanding we don't have a D record number for this project as of yet either um so we would have to continue anyways got it okay yeah thanks and and Steve I think you know this but
we can't vote unless there's a D number that's right all right so we'll see you with the third thank you very much thank you all thank you y Thank you y All right next on the agenda is order conditions 24
Wentworth Farm Road continued hearing ned you're here i'm here today jim Burke anyone jim Burke is here um Deb Keller I understand is not here but she has submitted a comment letter that I think is pretty favorable i know that she and Jim went back and forth a couple of
times and some final plan details and so uh with that I would ask if Jim can share screen show the final what we hope is the final plan um both with respect to the infiltration uh and level level
spreader area as well as the proposal for the chinking of the wall to fill in the gaps in the in the in the big stone wall okay good evening everybody good evening Jim okay yes sir um yeah so
what uh Ned said is correct we went back and forth um the really the the thing that was continued us last time was the detail for the um the wall that's over here in this part of the wall uh part of
the plan and basically I I sent a letter as well with this construction narrative basically remove vegetation fill in the voids with crush stone uh tamp it down and uh follow up with a larger stone on
the top and tamp that down um I'd ask you John specifically since this was a major concern of yours if this is satisfactory yeah yes and I I have uh you know I I note carefully the discussions we've had in the past and I I did read uh Deb
Keller's um recommendations as well so the the simple answer to your question is yes okay that's good news and then uh as far as what uh Deb added to the uh drainage uh from the previous plan was
that she added about 100 cubic feet of storage with stone uh on the top and the bottom while maintaining the elevations um which was brilliant and uh added some additional overflows which allow larger storm events uh to pass through easier
as opposed to backing up and again you know brilliant so uh she made uh made the plan better and uh client's happy with it and uh as long as you guys are happy with it I think we're ready to go
all right this This is Steve Ivis i think Deb did a wonderful job thanks you don't get any credit Jim at all i got She's not here she's not here
it's too bad she she did did a great job jim did a great job the two of them worked well together which is always helpful and um thanks Ned [Music] sorry Jim and you're right we we have a a client who's pleased if if this is the
final plan he's pleased with it he's ready to uh get to it immediately um and appreciates the uh consideration given by uh the commission as we've moved through you know what has not been an easy process right all right all right
now I Jim when you answer you asked me the question asked whether or not I was okay with the stone wall component of it and the answer was yes but I I' I'd like to hear from other commission members tom Palmer Wendy I mean we were all
there and and saw the uh you know potential uh breakout areas when I say potential breakout I'm talking about the sedimentation that we saw um after listening to Deb and and everybody speaking about it I'm I'm comfortable
with the crush stone and stone the larger stones um as a mechanism to do that without sealing it off which creates another set of problems um so I'm okay with it but I I'd like to hear from others u John uh this is author um
this solution addresses the concerns I had and I'm very pleased with the uh resolution for us good yeah John it's Charlie i agree with Arthur this looks good right tom Wendy Ingred
nothing to add sorry yeah i also I I also know that Deb commented on the uh detention area within the circle it's not part of this plan but she had some additional I think a recommendation to
remove uh the wood chips uh and replace with crushed stone and I don't I don't know if there's a mechanism that the commission can undertake to try and force that type of change but that would be an improvement drainage as it comes down potentially
down the driveway into um the the client's property yeah that's a it's a fair question it's it's really outside the scope of this enforcement order but it does have a direct impact on your client's driveway because when it overflows it goes right
down the driveway um so I think that's it's a fair question my response is actually more of a question it's my understanding that the homeowners organization is now up and running whereas it wasn't before um
and I I think that who was your comment Ned or or I think it was in Deb Keller's note as well that there should be some kind of an O andM plan for this and certainly part of it would be shifting from the mulch i think it's back to crushed stone because I think it
started with crushed stone and then they made it look pretty and they put in the mulch but and and Steve I can I'll defer to you on this but do you think the the crush stone is better than the mulch
because we all saw what happened to the mulch it went into the center yes yes it's much much better because the the mulch gets put into the water column ends up on the surface and then
stops up the u the beehive and then cause causes flooding it's it's too bad but it does look nice but it doesn't work in that location and and speaking of stone Jim
would you let me know when they start shinking i'd like to watch the process i think you you probably should give Ted a call because he's probably doing it but I'll certainly let you know thank you who Who is Ted
uh Ted Dobbins he's a contractor a Mason jack of all trades good man yes I would agree and he lives in Norwell he must be a good guy all right that's right
all right so um it it it looks like these plans are um appropriate um and now this is a notice of intent and I and I think we should probably address this because it I think it came up at one of the earlier meetings the enforcement
order that started this whole process uh was because there was a violation of the terms and conditions of our original order of of notice um so I want to know if any and I'm not advocating one way or the other i'm asking a question as to whether or not
anyone thinks a fine would be appropriate for the original enforcement order that brought us to this point right now of apparent agreement so speak up if you do i'm not suggesting one or not one john I think I think the homeowner has
been through a lot um and I would say no fine i'm very happy that they're doing the work anybody Anybody else comments thoughts all right i Steve I think you're right i mean it's the end result
that we're looking for right and uh th this is one I I know the homeowner has gone through and I'll remind everybody that under chapter 44 section 53G uh the the cost of Deb Keller assisting
us was borne by the applicant um so I I do appreciate that vomit so hearing no uh suggestion that there be a fine imposed and I guess the only issue this is a notice of intent uh so is there a a
uh a motion to approve an order of conditions uh as a result of this notice of intent to fix the enforcement order is there such a motion i'm not hearing one there is Mr chairman second
all right yeah who there was a second Arthur's motion charlie charlie you get the second okay perfect thanks is there any discussion i should have asked are there any uh comments before we even got to this stage from uh Abu members of the public
um which might be important because the homeowners association are all neighbors but seeing none a motion's been made it's been seconded is there any discussion hearing none we'll go through a roll call vote for this uh Ingred how
do you vote yes arthur yes wendy yes callie yes um do we lose i don't see I don't see Tom available right now he he disappeared about 20 minutes ago yes okay all right well I joined on the
screen yes as as well so you're good to go great long process appreciate your patience no want to thank you for uh your patience as well because it's been a and and it's been a much more iterative process than
processes are so we appreciate it good all right thanks all good night guys thank you good night next on the agenda um is electronic signatures for the conservation commission um and I had uh at at
Philip's suggestion um which would make his life much easier rather than chasing us um I I did talk to Peter Melo uh Peter Melo followed up with an analysis of what was needed uh to shift to electronic signature it it it's a little
bit it's not cumbersome John cumbers that's a good word that's a good word but um Peter was kind enough to do an assessment and an analysis uh for the conservation commission and came up with
this uh this you know procedure that was concluded in your packet is something produced by um I guess the MSMCP uh board member which is very very helpful peter sent that on to us but in the meantime he did talk to Nick Milano uh
to involve the town to see what you know we needed to do and make sure that there was full coordination because this is a an issue that's come up for a number of different uh town boards uh so Nick has been involved in this and he's in in agreement so Peter and Nick and I all
spoke and this is the the result of what we've got here before you um it is important to read it because there are it's a kind of a phased in uh project for us first we have to at a public meeting uh it's on the agenda so this is the public meeting we have to take a
vote um and the mo if we get there the motion will be and and it's in quotes uh under process to allow the use of electronic signatures on wetland permits and the motion will be um if you so approve uh to hereby recognize and accept the provisions of Mass General
Laws Chapter 110G regarding electronic signatures and that its members meaning our members will henceforth execute documents either with electronic signatures or with wet ink signatures and that both will carry the same legal weight and effect um said motion must be
seconded and a roll call vote taken the majority of the commission must say I now that's step one uh step two is that the U we must you know record that and send it to the uh town clerk and Susan Galvin will be able to say okay it will
give us a true attested copy and then the third step is the true attested copy of the vote must be recorded at the registry of deeds um and that once we have the book and page numbers then we can go to the fourth step which is that we have to change our forms so that the
signature line um on our um on our whatever notice of intent or whatever we're signing has to say um by vote on such and such a day the individual listed below accepted the provisions of mass general laws 110g regarding
electronic signatures members and henceforth execute blah blah blah all the way through and then we have to cite to the registry of deeds book and page number as to where it's been recorded so cumbersome is a courteous way of saying it you are correct
um and then the the caveat here is if we're talking about registered land it doesn't work because this is only been approved by the court you know viewing 110g uh for recorded land not for registered
land so we're going to have to take a second look at the applications coming in if it's an RDA if it's a a notice of intent we have to take a look and make sure it's recorded land most of the land in Milton is recorded land but there are occasions when there could be registered
land um so Philip making party life easier uh might make others more difficult um but uh you know we could certainly ask the people when they file a notice of intent as to whether or not uh they have a book and
page number once they give you a book and page we'll know that it's in the registry uh not in the land court um so with all that which is laid out pretty neatly on the first page uh of what what was in our packet um is there any
discussion comments questions thoughts as to whether or not we should proceed in this direction i I do it it sounds cumbersome but it'll make Philip's life a lot easier rather than chasing us any thoughts good idea bad idea supported not supported the to Charlie I
think the whole idea behind electronic signatures is to make the the whole process quicker and easier yes it doesn't sound like we're doing that sounds like we're making it more complicated um yeah the steps to get there is I
agree it's pretty cumbersome but once we do it once that is once we if we take a vote tonight and then we have Sue Galvin you know attest that yep that's they took a vote and then we can take that attestation and we get over to the registry of deeds we file it there I
think there's a I don't know $25 filing fee and they assign it a book and page number and then but So it's it's one time only John yes okay yeah it's it's just the one time we recorded and then we have to change our
form so the form that we've been signing just says you know signatures of the conservation commission we have to have another piece of paper that said we have uh approved um by vote of the conservation commission electronic signatures and that vote is recorded at
but it has to be just written once once is part of our form then it's over it's cumbersome to get there but it's uh it's kind of a one-off burden and then then after that we just we have the electronic signature
well if it's a if it's a one time one time thing then I I think it would be worth it i was concerned that it was every time we did this oh no was that did did
um I'm sorry Angry did you say something oh Wendy no okay all right so is there a consensus that this is a good idea i think it is it's a pain in the neck to to get through the process but once we're through it it'll I think it'll
help Philip immen immensely all right a phone call is that Tom did you call back in yeah I'm on a phone now my computer had bad indigestion okay how to put it put that way
it's 15 years old i need another one thanks Tom any thoughts on this uh I I I think the design is to make it easier it looks a little cumbersome to start but I think it will make it easier for Philip and us too
yeah you're right you're getting up to the DPW yard all right so it it looks like there's a consensus that we can move forward uh and based on are there any comments from the members of the public if there are any left I don't see
anybody Foster Macki is there um so any hearing no comments um I I will make the motion because the motion has to be very specific so I'm going to quote the language that you see so I'm going to make a motion that we the Milton Conservation Commission um uh vote to
approve a motion that we the MCC hereby recognize and accept the provisions of Mass General Laws Chapter 110G regarding electronic signatures and that its members will henceforth execute documents either with electronic signatures or with wedding signatures
and that both will carry the same legal weight and effect period end quote that's the motion is there a second second all right Wendy I I I saw you first so Wendy gets the second is there any discussion
hearing no discussion we'll take a roll call vote um Ingred how do you vote hi uh Arthur how do you vote hi wendy yes charlie yes tom Palmer yes and I John
Kieran vote yes as well so that's unanimous um so we'll have to type that up um tomorrow i'll I'll call you in the morning uh Philip and but that the quote is actually I just took it right off of the piece of paper that I got from a town council Peter Melo okay then we can
get that to Sue Galvin and she can attest that the the vote was taken on April 8th and once she does the attestation uh then we can record it in the registry of deeds very good no that's good progress
but still progress um oh and then after that Philip you know once it's recorded we'll have the book and page we'll have to go back and we can probably just have another piece of paper that says that um I don't know because I think we're using
a D form right um so maybe we just need to append to that another piece of paper that says this the vote the resolution was and it can be found at book and page number right i can check with I can check with Alicia too all right perfect
all right good thanks uh next is approval of meeting minutes March 11th 2025 i read them i didn't have any edits anybody not here ingred revision yeah and on
item three there's two typos um was no wo should have a space between the s and the n and then um there's another typo p a i o i'm thinking it should be the word
patio where where are you what number item number three okay thank you Ingred that's it geez she caught you Steve i know
that's okay she made it better she made it better that's all we we worry about all right any other proposed revisions hearing none seeing none um I'll make a motion to approve the minutes as revised is there a second
second second thanks Ingred i saw that any discussion hearing none uh roll call vote uh Ingred how do you vote yes father yes wendy yes charlie yes tom
Bmer yes and I John Kieran vote yes as well so that's done perfect um number eight is new business um Steve any new business well uh Mr mackey is here probably with a plan that
he wanted to show us okay um I think we should take that up if you don't mind yes sir is this uh 94 94 Parkwood perfect yes hi good evening good evening everyone good thank you
um submitted the plan earlier this week and um I guess in terms of what I think is most relevant this plan is from 2023 just in terms of uh design for the the pool renovation project um I think most
relevant for the commission um the contractor planning to perform the work has specified silt sock around the entirety of the the wetland boundary area so in the approximately the 25 foot uh boundary area stretching from uh as
you folks walked the the the property uh last weekend the foundation that stone wall that you may remember um on the right hand side of the property all the way around the pool area to the back um so just wanted to I think uh Thomas it may have been you that had asked for uh
the the plans this is what we are planning on doing with a few exceptions we're not replacing the pool the pool is going to remain as is the pool shed pool equipment everything's going to remain exactly where as it is where it is and and just be upgraded um so I wanted to
make sure you you got a chance to see these plans but um no other other changes that that I thought was relevant for the commission well there was one thing that we talked about um uh at your home but but u you just the changes i
think when I read the plan it looked like you did exactly what we asked for that is a closed circuit uh filter system uh yes uh planning on a a closed filter system with a backwashing pit um silt socking the whole area and then I think there was also a question about
how we were planning to repair the um the the eroding area uh and so the contractor is planning to just install some of the existing boulders that are right there under the ground right underneath the um that footing area or that uh eroding area and and back fill u
that would be inside the silt sock location okay do you know how much fill that they're going to have to bring in for that or can they just do it with big I don't think it's much John i think it's it's uh taking fill from where it's eroded and and putting it back so
there's a few boulders back there that you know are existing and they're planning on recessing those into the hillside and then back filling with existing material all right I've got a a real odd question for you what is I'll do my best to answer it they they look
like old-fashioned weights those round um What else yes what you're You're right those are um those are just you can tell the area um I think was built up over the course of time um everything
that's there is fill from what I assume is the Boston Edison plant from when this was done back in the 80s prior to uh you know prior to when I owned the home um but there's a lot of stuff back there there's uh there's weights there's um brick there's a bunch of different odd pieces of material that are in that
fill uh so I don't exactly know what those are okay all right thanks thanks um questions from commissioners and my concern I think I stated it was the u if we had a closed circuit um uh filtration system that that's a benefit because
they're so close to the stream there but that that's exact that was my concern so I'm happy to hear that any other comments questions nope um all right all right now this was actually on the agenda for Saturday which was a public meeting
so it's been continued so it's on this agenda and it was I don't have it in front of us this was a notice of intent correct this was an RDA John this was per my first meeting with um with Steve we just
thought that that's what would be required yep all right all right so um my suggestion is that we do a negative uh determination with special conditions and the special conditions uh where that the uh filtration system is going to be
changed to what I call closed circuit so that there's no discharge of chlorinated water into the nearby stream uh that's that's been done agreed to the second one is we've got the silt slack at the 25 foot mark to uh protect against
erosion into the stream um we we do have standard uh ones foster which is uh which include that there'll be no overnight storage or refueling of heavy equipment within our jurisdiction so if you need a backhoe or excavator or
something you can't leave it there overnight and you can't refuel it uh within our jurisdiction um got it we've got the pool we've got the uh erosion controls uh overnight uh storage of equipment refueling of equipment any other special
conditions any commission members we we should um con we consider uh getting the trees out ASAP the the trees that are broken broken trees yes yes and and for the public's benefit we talked about
that and I think everybody there agreed that that's a maintenance issue that that doesn't require uh any kind of a filing uh th those trees were not not just dead they were out of the ground and leaning precariously so yes you have our authority to uh perform the
necessary maintenance to get them out of there appreciate that um can I ask you a question about the storage of the equipment just in ter I don't know what my contractor's plans are but um if he's planning on uh bringing them outside of the wetland buffer zone uh is that
acceptable or is it truly removing the equipment every single night it's getting it out of our It's 100 feet from the stream 100 feet got it all right and I don't want to step on overnight parking rules that the police might have of DP understood i I don't know but just
Okay fair enough have them get it out of our jurisdiction that's 100 ft from the stream okay all right thanks any anything else comments questions members of the public commission members all right is there a motion then
to issue a negative determination of the request for determination of applicability uh with the special conditions that uh um we just mentioned this meeting is meeting recorded
missed that one hey you're back you might you might be echoing if that's your phone as well as Yeah I'll turn the phone off all right any thoughts questions comments tom I think you're on mute you're muted Tom
did you hear my question Tom um no I'm good all right so is there a motion to issue uh a negative determination of the request for determination of applicability so move
All right thanks Tom is there a second second thanks Charlie any discussion hearing none uh Ingred how do you vote i arthur yes wendy yes charlie
yes tom yes and I John Kenan vote yes as well so that's unanimous so all right did you follow all all that Foster i got it all thank you John thank you commissioner appreciate it all right thanks all have a good night yeah thank you and
that was under additional business and is there any other additional business anybody steve author John uh yes i was approached by Mr hanigan um regarding 37 Robins and he had a very strange
question for me he asked me to go and take a look at that site and tell the owners that the trees were doing fine i'm not sure why he asked me the question it might have been concerning a
partial CO or something yeah is that the 75% I mean they just planted them or Exactly so that's that's what I sort of tried to indicate to Mr hanigan
um I will have a chat with him and re re uh have a discussion with him that's all okay right but I I think we we could do the same thing if and I suspect that that homeowner has got you know bank financing issues because it's
a new home um so they may require a sort of a partial yes what we've done in the past is have a partial we've even had um people put up u bonds and they're pretty cheap uh the bonds for the to protect
against replanting it' be sufficient money for a landscape plan to replant if if 75% did not fail so this is this is workable um but if you could find out more what he's looking for because we can't we can't just ignore the
75% uh yeah that's a state performance standard for us yes it is right all right so you'll get back to Bob on that i shall thank you all right good arthur any new business i Steve I didn't
mean to cut you off Steve i'm sorry and we're still waiting for another plan for 1034 uh Blue Hill just to let you know got it okay are you good Steve i'm good thank you
okay Arthur a couple of quick things John um climate action planning committee that I'm the representative to from the conservation commission finished its report and has submitted it to the select board i'd like to um have it submitted to the conservation
commission so that all the conservation commission members can review it and um make any comments that they wish and maybe we could have that on the agenda for our next meeting in terms of u uh input if that's acceptable to you and to
the others it certainly is to me makes sense how long is the report uh it's fairly lengthy yes i I thought I saw it in your hand no no no no this is a three-page document this is the uh flooding and storm water section of the
report the report is about 31 pages long okay totality but all the areas wouldn't pertain to members of the conservation commission oh that's great arthur what was the name of that report climate Action Planning
Committee uh important recommendations that's what it is i'll get you the formal title climate action planning planning committee thank you you're welcome and I'll help you out with the formal title be happy to Steve now
um the second uh point on that is that one of the recommendations in the flooding and stormwater area is uh an action to support a legislative act accelerating wetland restorations there's a bill in the House and there's
a bill in the Senate um pertaining to regional resilience and flood protection um this is um being widely endorsed throughout the Commonwealth and it essentially
accelerates or calls for an acceleration of wetlands restoration which applies to what we were discussing earlier this week uh this night um with respect to the 33 acres off Courtland Circle and the minutes that were approved a couple
of minutes ago relatives of salt marsh restorations so maybe this would be on the agenda as well so that the conservation commission uh might endorse these uh two uh matters of legislation
calling for an acceleration of wetlands restoration in the Commonwealth um you said Arthur that it's um widely endorsed being widely endorsed right by
organizations Ottabon uh society uh Boston Harbor now the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions the Nature Conservancy Trustees of Reservations just to add a few
okay of the endorsees all right so are you are you able to send that to us digitally so that we'll we'll have a chance to read what whatever it is because I I know it it sounds good accelerate the wetlands restoration but I don't know if it's
consistent with you know existing performance standards or if it's changing those performance standards um like is there a remediation ratio something like that do you want me to
uh prepare it in such a way that Bill sends it out in the packet or do you want me to send these two out electronically so that commission members have an opportunity to review them between now and Yeah yeah i I think that early and if if you could do it electronically that gives us a chance i
can and I will that's perfect i'll put a little uh brief narrative with it so that people understand uh where to go and what to look at all right great and the only other thing uh Joan and
colleagues is that u the signs are in for conservation commission um I'll be meeting with DPW staff next Tuesday and uh we will site five of them and then there will be five signs left for
us to work with after that that's good you know apppropo of the signs I noticed and I think some of us went road when we were going up to I'm sorry we went off of Anquity went on Holland Street when we were going up to
1250 Randolph Avenue going from one site to the next last Saturday and um when I got on to Holland Street I was very and Tom I know you'll be aware of this but I was very very aware of the the water elevation i mean it's only about a foot
and a half below the street level so I I called Ton Hamilton because he he lives on Holland Street and I said "Have you seen how high the water is?" And he said "Con it's always that high." Yeah so the the reason that I was asking was because I didn't know if that was a result of
the Beaver Dam because there were there are two in the area one is on the other side of Anquity Road on the near the Holland Street extension that come that the extension actually empties out onto Canton Avenue but there's another it's
about an 80 or 100 foot long dam I guess reported by Chase Berkeley I don't know a year and a half ago um and I didn't know if that water level was as a result of the diva beaver dam i I don't know i
thought I saw Ingred sh Yeah how I mean I've you know run or ride my bike along around there quite a bit and ever since I can remember it's always weirdly high and that's what Todd said so that's good
so the beavers aren't creating problems that we didn't have i was just going to ask you how long the beavers have been there but I think it's they haven't been there that long no they haven't it's I' I'd say a year and a half ago john when you're up there you know what the deer are because you hear them swashing through that continuous
[Laughter] and we we really there are two um conservation commission signs on different uh sides of the road in different locations uh in terms of going up and down that
highway that roadway and um we had a real difficult time by we I mean um working with the DPW and finding places where those signs could be put on what would be considered
elevated land there are very few areas along that street on either side where you can find land that is at the level of the roadway interesting land that's good i'm glad
we've got it well I thought it would be a great place at one point in time for a storage area for storm water in the town of Milton no way you wouldn't want to put another drop of rain in there wow
when they put in the flood storage dam they had to buy a flood easement from the golf course because in certain storms that dam will back up water onto the golf course [Music]
um it's uh always wet and tonight right now is the wetest time of the year in terms of groundwater elevations so I agree with yeah and grant etc that it's not surprising to see that area flooded
at early April and John all of those citations were pre-beaver this what the citations in terms of the conditions of the wetlands on either side of Holland Street oh no i I understood that right can't blame that
on the Beavers on the Beavers all right good any other new business additional business yes John um I had a chance to
view 123 Granite A our favorite location in town of course yes again and somebody vandals perhaps have planted a series of 10 apple
trees across the north side of that site and they they're apple trees that appear to be a few years old but half the bark is gone as if mice or or
rabbits or somebody else got at the bark and they're not planted um with normal planting methods they would like took somebody took a scoop from a large machine scooped it out threw the apple
trees in and then just threw the soil back it's very unusual just want to let you know next time you're over there but are they is it a line of trees is there's a line of trees perpendicular to grid
perpendicular to granite a f just north of the end of the tarmac at the north end of the site so is it the property line between the American Legion and the DOT i don't know because it's well away from the fencing that's there at the All
right at the what I thought was property line so uh when you were out there is the equipment because I see the equipment every day when I go in down is it outside the 100 ft yes it is it's it's away and the other equipment that was on
the other side from the on the uh the DPW side is also away as well which I'm very happy to report all right and two other additional business but they're questions to you Steve uh first one is
um we are I think about to receive a notice of intent uh Nook Pro Tunk um from the DOT for that road that they built that's coming in right I'm sorry that's legal jog and
stuff now now for them it's sort of an after the fact notice of intent for that road that they built right no that's a question am I correct that they are submitting that to you've been in contact with uh I have not heard
anything about that notice of intent myself nobody's contacted me about it where you I've seen a couple of emails going back and forth i thought it was between you and Miss Lanner is it Elizabeth Lanner or
Erica erica L erica Eric yeah no not about that what is she talking about here's what the um roundabout right with the roundabout it was the roundabout most recently i thought she
was referring to the DOT road what I call it is it is a DOT road right roundabouts didn't you talk to the fellow that down there his name is Herbert Henry Webster henry Webster
yes yeah no I don't I don't believe there was nothing nothing about that that uh notice of intent after the fact i'm still waiting waiting waiting on that all right can you chase him on that please that's kind of embarrassing
that they build a road through through our wetlands yes it is all right if you could chase him I'd be grateful and the other one I will I will chase I would chase her actually she's she's the um
a permitting uh specialist for DOT so she's the right person to to chase all right good all right um Oh and the other one um and I I know just to get everybody up to speed and Wendy u
you should be aware that I'm getting pressed on that Pope's Pond Pedestrian Bridge that kind of fell by the wayside it kind of got lost I guess among academic assignments over at Northeastern School of Engineering and Chase Berkeley was our sort of you know
um motivator I guess um because he was friendly with Dan Dowaski who's the professor at the at the university school of engineering um but Steve I think has had some recent uh conversations with professor Dowaski
he's the one that actually Um who was who was present i know that Chase was there I was there Dan Dowski was there and a student lead there were four four of us that walked the area of Pope's pawn we were trying to find the
the narrowest span because when you you know the narrowest span means the shortest bridge and if it's short enough they can do it on four helical piles as opposed to eight helical piles and they they thought they found a spot u that
could dramatically shrink the length of the bridge which would make it cheaper and easier to suspend on four piles instead of eight um and then it everything kind of stopped um so we don't have the specs yet uh but the plan
is to get them to give us the specs we can then put it to bid to a fabricator and um I know the fabrication we had a bid that Walpole I think had used um and it was about
65,000 at the time which is within the budget that we've received from the CPA funding um but of course that was a number of years ago so I'm sure that the fabrication costs have gone up dramatically but I think we can stay within budget um can can you give us and
I know it's up to me to chase him u as well but did you get anything of substance from him exchanging messages um um well yes I did and um I I got a message from him recently asking uh for
some of the detail for me to send him some of the details on the wetland flags which I gave him the um plan for the wetland flags and I also added what did
I add i added some work that his his classes had done four or five years ago with regard to the plan on the project basically a description of the project and there was
one other thing that I added technical technical items and then I haven't heard from him since since I sent those things out oh boy okay because those are the same technical plans that I submitted
they were from like 2018 I think uh it's it's a while ago and I submitted that with the original CPC application because I thought they were that far along already so I'm I'm not encouraged that he had to ask you for the plans
that we got from him right okay all right well I'm on it i'll I'll chase him okay i just wanted everybody to know that we didn't forget about it but it did languish and and and Chase was uh very effective in in getting him to show up and walk the site and all
that and and I'm sure that Marina will be as well but I I think that Oh yes but uh but Chase uh that's where he went to school and he was involved with re restructuring or the rehabilitation of the bridge at the other end of the pond
so he he knows the the plan the place and the concept you bet all right that's just an update for you i think that's all for me anybody else i have a very quick update good done um about uh the open space and recreation
plan um the committee that that um you all have asked me to represent the conservation commission on and um and there was there was a long um lag time since our last meeting almost um almost
a year um because of some of the staffing changes and other issues at the planning department um but we are back on track we met four days ago with the consultant Horsley and Whitten Group and
um they are are putting um getting close to final touches on the uh last draft and they have um one one significant part of the plan is an
inventory of um open space parcels and um and they have asked all of us committee members to take a look at the um the latest version of the inventory that they have um I I feel like I am
probably the least qualified person on our committee to take a look um a critical look at that inventory um I'm wondering if there are others of you that would be willing to take on that
task who have more of a historical perspective um in our town than I do i'd like to volunteer Tom for that project um I would say the inventory is the part
of the open space plan and has been a feature of previous ones that I've seen the going back decades and uh but I'm not a attorney i really am not
very versed in land labels and uh zoning designations so I wouldn't be very helpful in that regard but yeah I would probably be familiar with the parcels
so yeah and I think as a matter of course we ought to I'll all be able to look at that list wendy could you uh send that list around yes I will that'd be great okay
yep and before we break Wendy uh could I go back to you for just a moment on the CPC yeah next month at the May annual Maytown meeting there'll be a warrant article I believe
for the CPC projects that were approved for funding in FY26 yes we that is correct so we're in FY25 at the present time mhm so the ones that would be approved in
May of since we're you know 5 months into 2025 already they the ones in the May art warrant article wouldn't be for this year they'd be for next year FY26 that makes sense that is correct yes so
going back to what we discussed about the salt marsh and the project for that area that application would be F FY27 correct okay good i just wanted to make sure that that was a sequence which means
uh the writing of the preliminary application is going to have to begin very quickly very quickly yes which Thanks yeah it would it would be a shame for us to to miss this window because then we wouldn't get the if we were so
fortunate as to be chosen for funding and it was approved by town meeting we wouldn't see that money until FY 27 yep so that's the earliest we can get the money is for FY27 and we sure don't want to miss the window because that means
it'll be out in FY28 correct okay thank you all right good anything else i think we're good motion to adjurnn wake up wake up
sean all right guys i move to a jury did we set up any site visits or No any what say it again Tom schedule any site visits while I was indisposed
oh yeah yes yeah we we did and that's for Chickabit and that is May 3rd may 3rd may 3rd 8:30 all right all right right probably where the gate is and if there's no room for parking there then
probably up by the barn there i guess there two or three spaces uh to pull off the road in front of the barn all right um I got you good and that's the only only site visit that Yes so
that will be a quick one yes okay great good good we're good to go right everybody voted yes to Yes yes all right good night all god bless
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